Field
The described embodiments relate to techniques for communicating information among electronic devices, including communicating data information from a cellular-telephone network via a wireless local area network.
Related Art
Many electronic devices are capable of wirelessly communicating with other electronic devices. For example, these electronic devices can include a networking subsystem that implements a network interface for: a cellular network (UMTS, LTE, etc.), a wireless local area network (e.g., a wireless network such as described in the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standard or Bluetooth from the Bluetooth Special Interest Group of Kirkland, Wash.), and/or another type of wireless network.
While many electronic devices communicate with each other via large networks owned by a network operator, it is often difficult to communicate via a cellular-telephone network, e.g., in high density or crowded environments. In particular, in crowded environments the network performance (such as the block error rate and the capacity) of the cellular-telephone network can be degraded. Moreover, there are often constraints on the number of cellular-telephone towers. Consequently, it can be difficult for the operator of the cellular-telephone network to improve the quality of their service e.g., in crowded environments.